Leverage Reborn
by Meatball42
Summary: AU. Tara didn't meet the team because Sophie left. She met them just as they were torn apart by something far more devastating.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: This is based a bit off real life, so please don't tell Sarah I used her name ;)**

**[*]**

**I was walking my dog. That's when it all began. Honestly, as stunning as it was, as much as my life has changed because of it, part of me wishes Sarah (my schitzu) hadn't chosen to walk into that particular part of the docks.**

**I heard voices around the corner as Sarah pulled me along a dark blue warehouse. I didn't expect to see anything interesting, maybe some dockworkers loading a barge, but my instincts (trained from twenty-five years of spy movies) encouraged me to pull back on Sarah's leash and peek into the building.**

**What I did see shocked me to my core. A young blonde woman, who looked to be around my age, was standing behind a table, hands cuffed behind her back. A black man was sitting next to her, not cuffed, but looking similarly trapped by the four burly men who stood behind the pair. In front of the table, right side toward me, was a rather short man in a posh suit. He was the one I'd heard: he was ranting angrily to a group of three people, two men and a woman.**

**One of the men seemed to be the leader. He was the tallest of the three, with black hair and blue eyes that were shining in the bit of summer sunlight the penetrated the ominous shadows of the warehouse. He stood at the front of the group, and the other two backed him up.**

**The woman was standing closer to him. She was wearing a deep purple dress, a bit too tight-fitting for the docks, I supposed, but I was looking more at her face. Her eyes were wide and worried; her face was composed and calm, but fear and anger kept slipping through, like she was trying to hide them and failing.**

**The third man was standing one the other side of the leader. His long brown hair was puffy and covered part of his face, but I could see the anger set into his expression like stone. He had blue eyes as well, but instead of glinting like the first man's, his were flinty, burning directly at the suited man.**

**Obviously, I was concerned. I didn't know what was happening, but I was afraid all the same. Those men were standing far too close to the thin blonde and the black man to be friendly, and I saw that they were holding guns. I reached into my purse to call the police, but I realized I would have no idea what to say. What if this was nothing, what if I would be overreacting? It was none of my business anyway, I was really just a bystander, right? I tried to convince myself to leave, but the black-haired man started to speak. Frightened, but intrigued, I quickly tied Sarah up behind a dumpster and crept into the warehouse, hiding behind cargo boxes, until I was close enough that I could hear him speak.**

"**Let them go, Sterling," the man was saying. "They've done nothing to you."**

"**I'd have to disagree with you there, Nate," the man called 'Sterling' said in an English accent. "Parker here owes me quite a bit. I'd say those paintings she stole in Paris, 2004 were worth quite a pretty penny. And it was my job to retrieve them." He turned to the table and motioned at one of the burly men. The man grabbed the blonde by her hair and slammed her head into the table. I gasped, shocked by the scene, but my breath was covered up by the cry from the brunette woman.**

**The black man had stood up and was aiming a weak punch at the man who'd hit 'Parker,' but two of the other men manhandled him back into his seat.**

"**What do you want from us, Sterling?" Nate asked, his voice hard and staccato. Something about that tone scared me more than the four strong men.**

"**I've already got what I want," the Englishman grinned viciously. "I don't even care about your little 'team' anymore. Something tells me you've stolen your last miracle."**

**Nate shook his head. "What are you talking about, Sterling? What have you done?" He shouted the last, and I understood why. The absolute surety in Sterling's last statement was pretty foreboding, and even though I had no idea who these people were, I felt a knot of fear in my chest.**

**Sterling just smiled again, and stuck his hand into his coat. I tensed up. All the movies I'd seen told me this was when the bad guy pulled the gun, and the heroes were caught. Even though Sterling had referenced Nate stealing, I knew who the heroes were here, and it wasn't the Englishman with glee in his eyes.**

**Instead of a gun, however, Sterling pulled out a package, as big as a book, covered in brown paper. I craned my neck over a crate to see what it was, but I couldn't identify it. I nearly gasped again when Sterling tossed it through the air and it was caught by the long-haired man.**

"**Eliot?" the brunette gasped. "You got Parker and Hardison caught?"**

**Eliot shook his head. "Naw. I got Parker caught, Hardison just walked right into it." He turned away from the openly shocked brunette and the blue lasers of Nate's eyes, and looked to Sterling. "See ya never?"**

**Sterling grimaced. "Like I'd make the effort. Goodbye forever, Eliot Spencer. Thanks for your help," he threw over his shoulder as he walked to the table.**

"**Let them go." The four men obeyed Sterling's command and started undoing Parker's cuffs. I wasn't watching this, though, as my attention was focused on the long-haired man who was about to walk right past me. For a moment, I was afraid he'd see me, but his eyes were focused straight ahead of him and there was an expression on his face so complex I couldn't identify it. He never looked back.**

**When I peeked over to the others again, I was surprised to see that the four men and Sterling had already gone. The brunette was hugging Parker anxiously and checking her rapidly bruising forehead, making concerned and reassuring noises as she did so. Nate had clasped Hardison's shoulder, but they weren't looking at each other or talking like the women were. Instead, they stared at the entrance to the warehouse where Eliot had exited.**

**I don't know what told me it was the right thing to do, but something inside spurred me to action. I stepped out of my hiding space and slowly made my way over to the remaining four people, drawing all their eyes.**

"**Do you guys need anything?" I asked, unsure. What if Eliot and Sterling had been the good guys and I was helping the criminals?**

**There were a few moments of silence, where the other three all looked to Nate. He studied me carefully. "What's your name?" He asked, blue eyes searching.**

"**Tara Cole."**

**He nods, as though I said the right answer and grimly smiles without warmth.**

"**Well Tara Cole, let's go steal ourselves a miracle."**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Author's Note: Okay, I intended that to be a one-shot, but realized it wasn't really fair, and by fair I mean the complete story, to just have that one chapter. So, I'm diving into the realms of fantasy to explain the craziness that happened for the first chapter.**_

_**I don't usually write chapters this short, but it looks like that's how it'll be for this story, so bear with me, please?**_

_**Thanks to anyone reading this, especially any reviewers who want to talk to me. Reader input is always the most important part of any story.**_

_[*]_

"_Where can we go?"_

_Parker's voice broke the silence that had been pervading the car. Nate, who I'd learned was actually Nathan Ford, had decided it wasn't safe for them to take their cars, so I was driving them through Boston in my Scion. It was a cute car, which had been most of my motivation for buying it; interior space was not. As an aspiring actress, the biggest things I had to carry were scripts. So it was a bit cramped. But worse than five people being squeezed into a small car was the silence. I could tell the team was in shock. Hardison and Parker were staring out of their respective windows in the backseat. The brunette, who'd been introduced to me as Sophie, was between them, rubbing Parker's shoulder while trying to wipe away her tears without anyone noticing. Nate, beside me in the passenger seat, was trying to cut a whole in my dashboard with his eyes. There was no way I felt comfortable enough to break the highly emotional silence, and I had nothing to say even if I planned to._

_So when someone finally spoke, it was a relief._

"_I was driving back to my apartment, if that's alright?" I looked to Nate, suddenly concerned I'd overstepped whatever boundaries this strange group had._

"_No, thanks Tara, that's a good idea. My place is obviously out, after what happened…" he trailed off for an instant, just enough for Sophie to zero in on the back of his head. "And anywhere else we frequent is likely to be under surveillance by Interpol."_

"_Interpol?" I asked, my voice sounding more shocked than I'd wanted it to. "Wait, so… who are you people?" When the three in the back looked to Nate, I stared at him as well. He sighed and rubbed his face before motioning me to park._

"_Look, sometimes…" He started, but looked as though he didn't know what to say. Sophie suddenly let out a little smile. "The rich and powerful, they take what they want," she began, and her sultry English accent seemed to relax the car a bit._

"_And we steal it back for you," Hardison gave the same little smile Sophie had._

"_Big corporations, corrupt politicians, greedy police officers, they have all the money, they have all the power." Suddenly Nate's eyes were burning again, like they had when he'd faced down Sterling. "And they use it to make everyday people go away. Those people suffer under an enormous weight. We provide… Leverage."_

_I stared at him for a few moments. "Let me get this straight. You find big bad guys, thieves, and you… do stuff back to them?"_

"_Did you hear about Mayor Culpepper, in Bellbridge?" Sophie asked._

"_Of course!" I scoffed. "I live in Boston, everyone's heard about that. We almost didn't believe it, but the cops said… wait, that was you guys?" I said, twisting in my seat to see all of them. "No way!"_

"_Yep." Parker said simply. We sat there for a minute, me staring at them, then I decided to reserve judgment. After all, I had enough beers at my apartment to forget all this, if necessary._

"_So how did this happen, anyway?" I asked as we pulled in to the parking lot of my building. "What's the deal with those guys in the warehouse."_

_We all got out and headed up to my apartment. No one said anything, but I caught them looking around surreptitiously until we made it to the elevator. Then Nate spoke._

"_It's a long story, and I don't even know where to begin."_

_We stepped of the elevator and I unlocked my front door. "How about whenever you first started being good guy criminals?"_


	3. Chapter 3

**AU: Heya! Another short chapter, but the story just got longer! Don't jump to any conclusions, cause this is gonna get trickier the further we go.**

[*]

I was sitting on the black leather sofa I had left over from my college dorm room and sipping a beer. It was a bit difficult to take in, but I believed them. Sophie, Hardison and Parker had admitted openly to being thieves, while Nate had only grudgingly said the words. I could tell he was sort of on the fence about the title applying to him.

Throughout the narrative they had stayed pretty vague about the third man I'd seen, Eliot, even though they had fully explained Sterling's role in the strange story. I realized it was probably opening a big can of worms, but hey! I was already involved, and what good would it do if I knew half the story?

"So how about this Eliot guy? You already have someone to jump off buildings, hack into computers, con people and make plans, what did he do?"

Like I'd expected, there was a silence that was rather awkward, but that was to be expected; I'd just pointed out the big elephant in the corner. What I didn't expect was for them to openly tell me about their friend.

"He's the hitter," Sophie explained. "he's an expert in multiple fighting styles, weapons, bombs, you name it."

"And that man can _cook!" Hardison exclaimed. "Don't tell him I said it, but his Italian is better than my Nana's!"_

"_And he likes horses," Parker interjected, pretty randomly if you ask me. The look on her face was a cross between a sweet smile and disgust._

_Then the room went silent again, everyone lost in their own memories. "So, what happened?" I asked quietly._

"_We were doing a job, for this young married couple," Nate explained. "The wife was a sweet girl named Elizabeth who was finishing up her college degree, but the loan company had sold her loans and increased the interest so they was impossible to pay off. It was outside the original contract, but legal. That is, until Lizzie and her husband started looking for a legal measure to help them, and Lizzie was attacked."_

_I gasped, astounded at the audacity of anyone to attack an innocent woman like that. Sophie gave me an understanding look, patting my hand mildly, while Nate merely nodded in acknowledgement and continued._

"_It turns out the loans were a front. The company was using them to run a money-laundering business, and Lizzie had stumbled right into the middle of it. She found us and we took the job. We made a plan to trick the company, have them sell back their loans and turn them in for fraud and the rest of their crimes."_

_Nate sat forward in his chair, his face changing to the same stony expression I'd seen back at the warehouse._

"_That's when it all went wrong."_


	4. Chapter 4

_We had infiltrated the corporate building of the loan company. Parker and Hardison had snuck by knocking out a few cameras to steal the files we needed from the CEO's safe and hack their computer system. Eliot was on the other side of the building for backup, he'd lied his way in as the boyfriend of one of the associates and Sophie had arranged a meeting with the CEO to get him out of his office so Parker and Hardison could wouldn't be interrupted. I was in the van, a block away._

_Everything was going fine, until all of a sudden there was a security alert and guards were sent to the CEO's office, where Parker was opening the safe. It was too fast, she couldn't get out. It was like they knew exactly where she was, they didn't even check anywhere else. They were bringing her downstairs, and Eliot's com wasn't answering. Hardison, who'd been down the hall in the computer hub, decided, _against orders_, might I add, to take on the guards himself. They grabbed him pretty fast and took them to the building's holding rooms._

_Before we even knew what was happening, security had come for Sophie as well. Parker and Hardison were handed over to the police, and I still couldn't get ahold of Eliot, he'd vanished. I managed to get Sophie out, using my old insurance investigator credentials, but we had no idea where Hardison and Parker had been taken. We went back to my apartment and used Hardison's equipment to track them for a while, and then their com signals vanished. Eliot's wasn't working at all._

_It was a few hours later before Eliot came back. He said he got caught as well, by 'those goons.' We didn't know what he meant until he recognized one of the men at the warehouse. But he said he didn't know where Hardison and Parker were, and we believed him._

_We didn't get the call until this morning, and we didn't know it was Sterling until we got to the warehouse, that was meant to be the drop-off. There was no ransom, the caller said they'd 'gotten all they needed.' When we got there, we found our teammates, four goons, one insufferable Interpol agent, and we found out that one of us was working with the enemy. And, of course, we found you, Tara._

[*]

For a moment, it was all I could do to stare at Nathan, mouth agape. When I'd taken a deep breath and thought for a moment, I sighed.

"I don't get it. Why would Eliot betray you guys?"

"We don't know," Parker said mournfully. Her expression was tight and she was blinking hard, so I looked away.

"We're assuming it had to do with whatever Sterling gave him in the warehouse," Nate explained. "But, really, none of us have any idea. We're not just a team, we're a family." I looked around at the others; they were all nodding, and suddenly I felt like I was in the middle of a very private moment. Uncomfortably, I spoke.

"So what do you want to do?"

"We have to find him," Sophie said firmly.

"And my paintings, Sterling's probably found them by now," Parker said, but her voice was quiet.

"Look, I want ta find him as much as you guys do, but I honestly can't see it," Hardison spoke up, shaking his head. "Eliot can be a ghost when he wants to be, even I couldn't find him if he was really tryin' ta hide."

"Well, we're _going to find him, Hardison. And we're going to figure out, why he did this," Nate said as he stood up. He walked into my kitchen and Sophie rose to follow him._

"_Wow, he didn't even say something dramatic before he left," Parker remarked. I gave her a look, but she ignored me. Hardison seemed completely unfazed, though. I guess Parker saying stuff like that's pretty common._

"_Not really the right time, Parker," he said. He reached out to take her hand, and she smiled at him. I sighed, sitting back on my sofa and wondering what kind of people I'd just invited into my life._


End file.
